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View From The Upper Deck

A weekly blog dedicated to the great American institution of baseball.

Posted April 21, 2014 06:24 am

Numbers to Munch On

While kids were eating chocolate rabbits and Peeps across the nation on Easter Sunday, I decided it was time in the baseball season to start digesting some numbers.

Through Saturday’s baseball schedule, most major league teams had played close to 18 games, minor league teams just a few less, and conference tournaments at the Division I level are just a month away.

It’s time to munch on some baseball statistics. It’s better for my blood sugar as opposed to Reese’s Eggs and Starburst Jelly Beans.

Bases In Bunches

Stolen bases at the major league level are coming in bunches early in the season. There are already 21 teams with double-digit stolen base totals and 12 players with five individual stolen bases or more. Dee Gordon and Eric Young Jr. are tied for the lead with 10 stolen bases, while the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds are averaging just better than one stolen base per game.

Angels Over The Outfield

The Los Angeles Angels are currently leading the major leagues in home runs this season with 29. Albert Pujols is having a resurgent season in the power department as he was one of six players tied for the major league lead in home runs with six. Jose Bautista, Pedro Alvarez, Brandon Belt, Giancarlo Stanton and Mark Trumbo each have half a dozen home runs, as well.

Swinging and Missing

Not only have baseball fans seen a large number of stolen bases, but they have also seen numerous players doing the walk of shame back to the dugout after striking out. With teams so far all playing close to 18 games there are already 11 teams that have amassed 150 or more strikeouts as a team. Dodger batters have struck out 168 times already this season. A nice stat for fans of the Kansas City Royals fans is that the Royal hitters have struck out the fewest number of times so far, with just 85 strikeouts as a team.

Parity-A-Plenty

Other than two teams with stellar records and three teams with poor records, the majority of teams in the majors are two games either way of .500. A total of 18 teams in the league are at .500 or within two games above or below the mark. Every team in the American League East fits that mold, and with the exception of the Cleveland Indians the same is true of the American League Central teams. We could see some interesting divisional and wild card races as the season progresses.

AL Central Prospects

Baseball America is the leading resource for following major league prospects. Before every season the publication ranks the top 100 prospects in baseball and creates prospect lists for each major league ball club. Throughout the season I will follow up on stats for some of the highly touted prospects.

Here are current numbers for each top prospect, according to Baseball America, for the five AL Central teams.

• Jose Abreu, 1B, Chicago White Sox: Abreu made the opening day roster for the White Sox and is hitting .243 with five home runs and 17 RBIs after homering and driving in three runs in Chicago’s 16-2 win over Texas on Sunday.

• Nick Castellanos, 3B, Detroit Tigers: Castellanos broke training camp with the big club as the Tigers starting third baseman. So far this season he is hitting .256 with two home runs.

• Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians: Lindor has played 15 games with Double-A Akron. He has scored nine runs and has two long balls.

• Kansas City Royals top pitching prospect Kyle Zimmer has yet to pitch in 2014, and Minnesota Twins outfield prospect Byron Buxton is also nursing an injury and has yet to see the field in 2014.

Campus Cutters

• Kentucky’s A. J. Reed could be the favorite to win this year’s Golden Spikes Award. Reed, a junior for the Wildcats, has 15 home runs and 52 RBIs while batting .375 so far this season. When not pitching, Reed plays first base for Kentucky. The lefty has a record of 7-1 with a 2.41 ERA as a starting pitcher.

• The LSU Tigers won a three-game series against Ole Miss in SEC action this past weekend. The Tigers were led offensively by first baseman Connor Hale, who combined for five hits and five runs scored in the two LSU victories. Rebels’ center fielder Auston Bousfield was 4-for-4 with five RBIs in Friday’s Ole Miss win.

• Northwestern upset Nebraska in Big Ten play. Jack Quigley earned a win and a save out of the Northwestern bullpen. Northwestern, 4-10 in conference, won the series against the Cornhuskers, who fell to 8-4 in the league. Nebraska now trails Indiana by 2 1/2 games in the standings.

• Oklahoma State moved into first place in the Big 12 with a three-game sweep over Kansas. Second baseman Tim Arakawa was 2-for-4 with a home run and three runs driven in Saturday. He then homered and drove in three more runs in Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Jayhawks. The Cowboys, 11-4 in the Big 12, will host third place Texas over the weekend.

• Three series to watch this weekend: Virginia at Florida State, Oklahoma State at Texas and Alabama at South Carolina.

Horsehides and Red-Hots to everyone, Deck.

Jeremy "Deck" Deckard is a correspondent for the Topeka Capital-Journal sports department. His "View from the Upper Deck" baseball blog appears at CJOnline each Monday. Deckard is a member of the Society for American Baseball Researh. He can be reached at UpperDeckard89@yahoo.com. Please put “UpperDeck” in the subject line of any emails. You can also follow Deck on Twitter at @UpperDeck89.